4 ms·

I disagree; good DRM is transparent and unnoticeable Yeah, until it isn't. I can't start GTA V for days since the "Rockstar Social Club" won't connect and gli

I disagree; good DRM is transparent and unnoticeable Yeah, until it isn't. I can't start GTA V for days since the "Rockstar Social Club" won't connect and glibly informs me that "I need to be on-line" I would have agreed with you until then. But not being able to play a game for which I paid full price and not being able to get meaningful support to resolve the issue rapidly changed my stance on DRM. It fucking sucks!

FractalParadigm 8y ago
Plus the horror stories you hear of people losing thousands of dollars worth of games on a Steam account for one reason or another. You never truly own anything that has DRM, you're just licensing it.
- cr0sh 8y ago
  > You never truly own anything that has DRM, you're just licensing it. The thing that I hate is that the marketing either explicitly says "you own it", or does it implicitly or indirectly, or in a way to make you think that you do. They never, ever put in big bold letters "License this game for $69.95, today!"; not even when you actually "purchase" does it say "license". In fact, you see the words "purchase" or "buy" or similar; words that have always connotated "ownership". Now granted, all software, and media in general, has always been a "license" - but there was always something physical around; that if the company or entity that licensed it to you disappeared tomorrow, you could still - theoretically - continue to use the license you had and enjoy the media as intended. That all really changed with license keys. One would think that the whole DIVX debacle would have made this abundantly clear, but I guess it didn't (makes me wonder if the DivX media format or whatever it was actually wasn't created purposefully to muddy the waters; but that's just conspiracy theory on my part). I don't even think people will "get it" if tomorrow everybody who "bought music" from iTunes or whatnot lost their licenses with no recourse. I really don't think there'd be anything done, except for some bawling at most. If everything we have seen over the years, including the various massive data breaches that have occurred recently, hasn't woken anybody up to force reforms and changes that benefit the citizens and consumers, well - nothing will. Society has basically said "we don't care if we or our children get slaughtered" - where that last word takes on a wide variety of meanings - up to and including its literal meaning. Those of us out here being force down the chute screaming about the injustice, the wrongness, the reasons why, etc - we are all just so much noise that nobody cares about anymore.
  - rmah 8y ago
    Children getting slaughtered? Oh come on. The simple fact is that movies, music and video games are just not that important. That's why people don't get up in arms about restricted access.
seabrookmx 8y ago
Nowadays you only really "license" the games, rather than own them. Sucks that it's $60+ to do so, but that's how it is.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
  Yet I have a whole shelf full of 30 year old console games that I can just stick into the relevant console and be playing within seconds. Progress!
- jhasse 8y ago
  There is an exception: https://www.gog.com/ https://www.gog.com/

FractalParadigm 8y ago

Plus the horror stories you hear of people losing thousands of dollars worth of games on a Steam account for one reason or another. You never truly own anything that has DRM, you're just licensing it.

cr0sh 8y ago
> You never truly own anything that has DRM, you're just licensing it. The thing that I hate is that the marketing either explicitly says "you own it", or does it implicitly or indirectly, or in a way to make you think that you do. They never, ever put in big bold letters "License this game for $69.95, today!"; not even when you actually "purchase" does it say "license". In fact, you see the words "purchase" or "buy" or similar; words that have always connotated "ownership". Now granted, all software, and media in general, has always been a "license" - but there was always something physical around; that if the company or entity that licensed it to you disappeared tomorrow, you could still - theoretically - continue to use the license you had and enjoy the media as intended. That all really changed with license keys. One would think that the whole DIVX debacle would have made this abundantly clear, but I guess it didn't (makes me wonder if the DivX media format or whatever it was actually wasn't created purposefully to muddy the waters; but that's just conspiracy theory on my part). I don't even think people will "get it" if tomorrow everybody who "bought music" from iTunes or whatnot lost their licenses with no recourse. I really don't think there'd be anything done, except for some bawling at most. If everything we have seen over the years, including the various massive data breaches that have occurred recently, hasn't woken anybody up to force reforms and changes that benefit the citizens and consumers, well - nothing will. Society has basically said "we don't care if we or our children get slaughtered" - where that last word takes on a wide variety of meanings - up to and including its literal meaning. Those of us out here being force down the chute screaming about the injustice, the wrongness, the reasons why, etc - we are all just so much noise that nobody cares about anymore.
- rmah 8y ago
  Children getting slaughtered? Oh come on. The simple fact is that movies, music and video games are just not that important. That's why people don't get up in arms about restricted access.

seabrookmx 8y ago

Nowadays you only really "license" the games, rather than own them. Sucks that it's $60+ to do so, but that's how it is.

SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
Yet I have a whole shelf full of 30 year old console games that I can just stick into the relevant console and be playing within seconds. Progress!
jhasse 8y ago
There is an exception: https://www.gog.com/ https://www.gog.com/